It's somewhat ungainly, but one way to think about this is that "static" means "it stays here". In a function: the value of the variable stays with the functio

It's somewhat ungainly, but one way to think about this is that "static" means "it stays here". In a function: the value of the variable stays with the function, i.e. it doesn't change between calls. In a class: the value of the variable stays with the class, i.e. it doesn't change with the creation of new objects. In a file: the value of the variable stays within the file, i.e. it can't be changed (or seen) from outside the file.